MEXICO CITY, April 21 (AFP) - The United Nations Children's Fund and members of the Interparliamentary Union meeting here Wednesday urged concrete measures to fight child sexual exploitation around the world.
"More than two million children throughout the world are victims of commercial sexual exploitation," said UNICEF director Edwin Judd.
"Children are bought, sold, traded, and bartered or see no alternative but to sell themselves. The sex trade has no borders. Children from rich as well as poor countries are exploited," he said.
Judd said that, according to UNICEF research, between 30 percent and 50 percent of prostitutes in Madagascar are children.
In the United States more than 350,000 children are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation, and in Mexico some 16,000 children work as prostitutes, especially at tourist sites, according to UNICEF.
Judd mentioned several causes for the phenomenon, including acute social disparities, poverty, discrimination, family disintegration, population growth, and government corruption as some of the causes.
The Interparliamentary Union, the international organization of legislatures of sovereign states, is holding its 110th meeting here in Mexico City.
IPU President Sergio Paez, a senator from Chile, underlined the "urgency to legally protect chidren of the world from prostitution, abuse, pornography and other types of exploitation through legislation that covers this vice."
At the meeting actress Jessica Lange, UNICEF goodwill ambassador, referred to a handbook put out by the group on child protection. The book details ways in which legislators can take practical steps towards the protection of children.
"We have the words and the legal tools, now we all have to act in order to prevent sexual explotation of children," Lange said.
"Across the world, there are over one million children entering the sex trade every year," said Marion Roe, a member of the British Parliament. "Around 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the last three decades," she added.
Roe talked about internet child pornography, which she says encourages pedophilia, and urged measures that include the creation of a cybernetic police force to patrol the internet.
Margareth Mensah, a member of the Namibian National Council, said that parents are sometimes involved in child prostitution.
"In Namibia, in many instances parents encourage them to prostitute themselves in order for the family to survive," Mensah said. "Often 10-years old girls are reported to exchange sex for a meal in a restaurant."
In southern Africa children also endure sexual slavery in war zones, rape and incest, and risk infection with HIV/AIDS, she said.
Mensah urged tougher penalties for pedophiles and a broader moral education that will not tolerate child abuse.
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